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Wine Walk and more family time

We got together on Dan’s dad’s birthday (Makena already did her blog post, since they share the same birthday) for a nice dinner on the river in New Smyrna Beach. Dan’s brother Gary, his wife Julia and youngest daughter Jasmine joined in.

On Friday, the seven of us went on the evening Victory Casino Cruise out of Port Canaveral, Florida. The campground we are staying at organized an outing, and we went along with the group. The owner of the campground was able to get a group rate of $21.00 per person, which included admission to the cruise, a delicious buffet dinner, and $20.00 in match play. The cruise ship has to go out to international waters before you can begin gambling, which takes about 35 minutes once you leave port. They offer everything that you would find in a regular casino. Unfortunately, we have no big wins to brag about!

Dan’s mom and dad

sunset on the cruise

On Saturday (3/22), we met up with Gary, Julia and Jasmine for the Wine Walk on Flagler Avenue in New Smyrna Beach. Dan’s parents had their end of season dinner at their condo, so they did not join in.

New Smyrna Beach

For $25.00, you receive a souvenir wine glass and 20 coupons for wine sampling. The walk goes from 1pm – 7pm and covers 12 businesses in the thriving downtown of New Smyrna Beach. The weather was perfect and it appeared several thousand people were also doing the walk. It was a great way to see all the wonderful shops and restaurants on Flagler Avenue, and to sample many great wines along the way!

cheers!

You received a map of downtown with all the participating establishments. Each place had a list of the wines that were available to sample. Each sample required 1 – 5 tickets, depending on the retail value of the wine.

lots of choices

studying the wine menu

There were many choices available, from whites to reds, ports, and several sangrias. Several of the places made their own version of sangria, using mangos as the main ingredient. We all agreed it was one of our favorites. So if you like to make your own sangria, try using mangos as the fruit. It was very refreshing!

Dan, Julia, Jasmine, Gary

And there was even some entertainment along the way. We had never seen a baby grand piano on a peddle cart before. He was very good, and a lot of fun to listen to.

piano peddle cart

father-daughter time

Flagler Avenue

The ladies at the Galleria De Vitro were having a lot of fun handing out samples. They said life is short, so you better enjoy it! And they certainly were!

Galleria De Vitro

And of course there were the usual ‘touristy’ signs.

Not sure what Gary is trying to tell his friends…

hmmm?!

lots of choices

making new friends

a sangria siesta?

We kept track of the wines that we liked, and will take our list with us when we go shopping. It was a lot of fun, and they are doing another walk in April, in case anyone happens to be in the New Smyrna Beach area. It was a great way for the downtown businesses to bring a lot of people to the area.

On Sunday, we (Dan’s parents, Gary, Jasmine, Dan and I) played golf at Cypress Head in Port Orange. Julia opted to keep Makena company at the condo. It has been over a year since I last played, and it showed! I donated a few golf balls to the pond. But on a positive side, we finally saw the Florida Scrub Jay. We learned about these on our birding tour, but did not notice one until Sunday. We did not bring our camera along, but this is a photo from the internet that shows what they look like.

This is the only species of bird endemic to Florida, so we were excited to finally see two of them.

After golf, we all met up with Julia and had a nice dinner together, on their final night in town. It was a fun, busy week getting together. And they seemed to enjoy getting out of the cold and snow.

Quote for the Day: “Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages.” – Louis Pasteur